Locking device for washing machine drums

ABSTRACT

Improved locking device for washing machine drums of the type in which said drum&#39;&#39;s periphery is fitted with one or more access doors, characterized in that it mainly consists of one or more hook-shaped components fitted to one side border of a curved door; of one shaft assembled in a rotary manner with regard to the drum wall and, fitted to this shaft, of devices operating together with said hook-shaped components when the door involved is being closed, all this for the purpose of both locking and tightening said door in its guides.

United States Patet 9 1 Haerick Jan. 8, 1974 LOCKING DEVICE FOR WASHING2,921,710 l/1960 Hutterer 68/143 x MACHINE DRUMS 3,513,672 5/1970 Macohet a] 68/210 A d H [75 1 Invent fil g? amck Primary ExaminerWill1am I.Price Attorney-Richards & Geier [73] Assignee: Em. DHooge N.V.,Ledeberg,

elgum 57 ABSTRACT 22 F1 d: 1 1 7 y 9 2 Improved locking device forwashing machine drums PP 272,826 of the type in which said drumsperiphery is fitted with one or more access doors, characterized in thatit 52 US. Cl. 68/145 mainly wk-Shaped [51 1111. c1. D06f 39/14 fittedone Side bmde' a curved 58 Field of Search 68/139 142 143 Shaftassembled in a "nary manner with regard 4 68/144: the drum wall and,fitted to this shaft, of devices operating together with saidhook-shaped components [56] References Cited when the door involved isbeing closed, all this for the UNITED STATES PATENTS purpose of bothlocking and tightening said door in its uides. 2,051,014 8/1936Strobridge 68/143 g 2,438,737 3/1948 Batina 68/143 7 Claims, 12 DrawingFigures PAI'ENTEO 81974 3. 783.653

sum a nr 2 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM 1 LOCKING DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINEDRUMS This invention concerns an improved locking device for washingmachine drums, more particularly for drums on the periphery of which oneor more access doors have been provided for.

It is commonly known that up to this day, the access doors for suchdrums show a flat design in which said doors form a section of the chordof a drum diameter segment and in which the second section of said chordis formed by a solid structure, generally with additional reinforcementsin the shape of a binding joint, of ribs or similar.

The'important inconvenience of such drums is that, first, they require aheavy structure because of the centrifugal force to which they areexposed and, second,

that in this manner a significant part of the drum space will remainunused.

This invention concerns an improved locking device for such drums, whichdevice will allow for fitting curved doors, so that the structuraldesign may be significantly lighter and drum space may be fully used,while the design itself will be exceptionally simple.

This improved locking device for washing machine drums according to theinvention and with regard to the type in which the drums periphery isfitted with one or more access doors, consists for this purpose mainlyof one or more hook-shaped components fitted to one side edge of thecurved door; of one axis assembled in a rotary manner with regard to thedrum wall and, fitted to this axis, of devices operating together withsaid hook-shaped components when the door involved is being closed, allthis for the purpose of simultaneously locking and tightening said doorin its guides.

In order to emphasize the inventions characteristic features, we shalldetail hereinafter, as an example and without restriction, apreferential design by referring to the drawings hereto-attached, inwhich FIG. 1 shows the front view of a drum fitted with an improvedlocking device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 represents a section of line 11-11 in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the larger scale of components pointed out inFIG. 2 by, respectively, F3, F4, F5 and F6;

FIG. 7 represents a partial view according to pointer F7 in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 represent, respectively, sections according to linesVIII-VIII, IX-IX and X-X in FIG. 7;

FIGS. 11 and 12 show two characteristic positions of the locking deviceaccording to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a drum 1 formed mainly by a cylindrical outer wall 2 and bytwo end faces 3-4. This drums inside is separated into three equalcompartments 5-6-7 by means of partitions 8-9-10 attached to one commonshaft 11.

To the cylindrical outer wall 2 will be fitted, in this case, twoU-shaped guides 12 and 13 while, between said guides and in the drumwall has been arranged, for each respective compartment 5-6-7 an accessopening 14-15 and 16.

Instead of forming a border for said openings 14-1- 5-16, drum wall 2has been bent outwards in order to form a catch component, respectively17-18 and 19, while stop components in the shape of small blocks 20-21and 22 have been assembled in appropriate places of each guide 12 and13.

drawn from the centre point of said shaft 11 and the free outer ends ofeach door assembled in said guides 12 and 13 in such a manner as toslide freely.

Each door 23-24-25 is formed mainly by a plate possibly reinforced in anappropriate manner, with one edge of said plate showing a part bentinwards, respectively 26-27 and 28, while the second edge has beenfitted with evenly spaced hook-shaped locking components 29.

In this case, each door has been fitted with six components 29, each ofsaid components showing in its outer plane a semi-cylindrical hollow 30with all of said hollows 30 being arranged in a coaxial line.

Instead of the lateral borders of each opening 14-1- 5-16, two smallblocks 31-32 for each component 29 have been provided for on drum wall 2and facing said catch components 17 and 19, which small blocks arespaced in such a manner as to just allow intermediate motion of thecorresponding component 29.

Each of the various pairs of small blocks 31-32 has been fitted with acylindrical hole 33 with said holes 33 being arranged in a coaxial line;through these various small blocks 31-32 has been passed a shaft 34 thatwill pass, at the same time, through the outer wall of the U- shapedguides 12 and 13 while each end of said shaft has been fitted with anappropriate operating device formed, e.g., by a lever, respectively 35and 36.

Said shaft shows between each pair of small blocks 31-32semi-cylindrical parts 37.

Operating the lock device according to the invention is quite simple andas follows When any door 23-24 or 25 is in open condition, like forinstance in FIGS. 1 and 2, with regard 'to door 24, then the rear border27 of said door will rest on the small blocks 21 concerned. In thisposition, the compartment involved, in this case compartment 6, can befilled with the wash.

For the purpose of closing door 24, we slide said door manually, or bymeans of an appropriate device not shown here, in guides 12 and 13 untilthe hook-shaped components 29 engage between said small blocks 31 and32. At this moment, shaft 34 will be in such a position that thesemi-cylindrical parts 37 will be directed outwards as shown by FIG. 11and in such a manner that the hook-shaped components 29 are allowed topass underneath said parts 37.

Subsequently we only have to rotate shaft 34 by means of devices 35-36by in order to obtain that the cylindrical part of the semi-cylindricalparts 37 engages into the various hollows 30 of the hook-shapedcomponents 29 with the result, that door 24 will be locked in aconvenient manner against drum wall 2 while being tightened against saidguides 13-14 in such a manner as to prevent any motion thereof while thedrum is revolving.

Said bent edges 17-18 and 19 of the drum wall will be, preferably,arranged in such a manner as to operate, when the door involved isclosed, together with the doors correspondingly bent parts 26-27-28.

In this manner we obtain an extremely simple locking device that willboth lock and tighten the door, thus allowing to use doors of simple andlight-weight design with a curved shape for maximum use of drumcapacity.

It is self-understood that, generally, said doors will be provided withfixtures that allow for controlled opening and closing of said doors.

It is also self-understood that said fixtures 35-36 may be replaced inany suitable manner by mechanical or other devices controlling therotary motion of shaft 34.

This invention will in no way be limited to the designs detailed asexamples and shown by the drawings hereto-attached and a locking deviceof this nature may be materialized in multiple shapes and measurementswithout exceeding the limits of this invention.

What I claim is 1. Improved locking device for washing machine drums ofthe type in which said drum s periphery is fitted with one or moreaccess doors, characterized in that it mainly consists of one or morehook-shaped components fitted to one side border of a curved door; ofone shaft assembled in a rotary manner with regard to the drum wall anddevices connected with said shaft and operating together with saidhook-shaped components when the door involved is being closed for thepurpose of both locking and tightening said door in its guides.

2. Improved locking device according to claim 1, characterized in thatsaid hook-shaped components are formed by small blocks, the surface ofwhich shows a semi-cylindrical hollow.

3. Improved locking device according to claim 2, characterized in thatthe centre lines of said semicylindrical hollows of the various smallblocks are arranged in a coaxial line.

4. Improved locking device according to claim 3, characterized in that arotary shaft has been fitted, for each door, to the drum wall, whilesaid shaft is showing, opposite to each hook-shaped component of thedoor involved, a semi-cylindrical part.

5. Improved locking device according to claim 4, characterized in thatsaid shafts semi-cylindrical part shows a length equivalent to orsomewhat greater than the width of said hook-shaped components fitted tothe door.

6. Improved locking device according to claim 5, characterized in that asmall block has been fitted at each outer end of a semi-cylindrical partof said shaft to the drum wall.

7. Improved locking device according to claim 6, characterized in thatthe free outer ends of said shaft are connected to devices that willallow for rotating said shaft by

1. Improved locking device for washing machine drums of the type inwhich said drum''s periphery is fitted with one or more access doors,characterized in that it mainly consists of one or more hook-shapedcomponents fitted to one side border of a curved door; of one shaftassembled in a rotary manner with regard to the drum wall and devicesconnected with said shaft and operating together with said hook-shapedcomponents when the door involved is being closed for the purpose ofboth locking and tightening said door in its guides.
 2. Improved lockingdevice according to claim 1, characterized in that said hook-shapedcomponents are formed by small blocks, the surface of which shows asemi-cylindrical hollow.
 3. Improved locking device according to claim2, characterized in that the centre lines of said semi-cylindricalhollows of the various small blocks are arranged in a coaxial line. 4.Improved locking device according to claim 3, characterized in that arotary shaft has been fitted, for each door, to the drum wall, whilesaid shaft is showing, opposite to each hook-shaped component of thedoor involved, a semi-cylindrical part.
 5. Improved locking deviceaccording to claim 4, characterized in that said shaft''ssemi-cylindrical part shows a length equivalent to or somewhat greaterthan the width of said hook-shaped components fitted to the door. 6.Improved locking device according to claim 5, characterized in that asmall block has been fitted at each outer end of a semi-cylindrical partof said shaft to the drum wall.
 7. Improved locking device according toclaim 6, characterized in that the free outer ends of said shaft areconnected to devices that will allow for rotating said shaft by 180*.